


Seeking Comfort

by Skullszeyes



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Comfort, Fear, Friendship, Light Angst, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 19:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14087892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullszeyes/pseuds/Skullszeyes
Summary: Aloy had a nightmare and she wanders around Meridian until Nil comes upon her looking off at the horizon.





	Seeking Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure why I wrote this. I've been having issues with faith lately, and usually it happens with my writing, and religion. I'm not sure what people want from me, with my writing and religion. I can't exactly commit, and it's difficult for me to really have a grasp on my own self-interests because I truthfully don't care about myself and life. And I don't say that in a depressing way, maybe abit nihilistic. I'm trying to be more positive, but I don't know...if it's working.  
> Anyway, I don't know what this is, but here it is nonetheless. :)
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciated.

It came too easy. The nightmares that cut into her normal dreams, that changed and brought down the happiness she had, and the machines would spring loose, chasing her through darkened forests, the open plains, across rivers, and each Nora village she stumbled into would be empty.

Aloy went to her home, to the place she grew up, to Rost. Except he wasn’t there, and she fell to her knees on the hard ground, and she cried, but she would hear the machines behind her, all of them manifesting with dark red coils inside their systems, their eyes glowing a menacing red.

She closed her eyes, but was jolted awake once they had surrounded her fully. Gasping, she fell off the bed, the hard floor making her groan. She shuddered, her fingers shaking as she pushed herself up and back onto the bed.

She was now in Olin’s apartment, but it was made hers and she had stayed in it for sometime. Changing a few things around that made her comfortable. It was lonely, and she wouldn’t tell anyone that.

She had visited Erend, and he had visited her in turn. They hung out in Meridian, sometimes they even went out and hunted machines. It was much of a distraction, but the loneliness would always come back to her. She thought of Rost, and even thought of visiting his grave, maybe in a few days, or a few weeks, she’ll make her way over to the Sacred Land.

For now, Aloy curled and closed her eyes, falling asleep. Instead of having a good night's rest, she woke up not mere hours after, and the night was still hanging over the city.

“Why can’t I sleep?” she asked, annoyed. Sitting up, she wrung her shaking hands, she didn’t have another nightmare, but the first one was still fresh on her mind. Her heart hurt. Instead of dwelling on it, she left her apartment and walked through the winding streets of Meridian. A few Carja wandered around, some were drunk, a few had come back from a late night hunt, and soldiers surrounded the area.

Aloy explored, but she always came to the railing that overlooked the rest of the land below near the Marketplace.

“How come you’re awake?”

She turned to see Nil standing several feet away from her, it looked like he just rode the elevator up, and he had a look on his face that told her he had just hunted down either more machines or bandits.

She shrugged, looking back out at the view. “No reason,” she told him.

“Come now,” he said, walking over to her, “you don’t need to lie.”

Rolling her eyes, but with a defeated sigh, she said, “I had a nightmare...about machines coming after me.”

“When have machines ever scared you?” he wondered, tilting his head to the side.

Aloy had to think for a moment, but her mind was blank, and she curled her fingers into the railing, trying to ease the shakiness from her body, even her heart was betraying her. “They don’t scare me. It’s more than that…”

“Like what?” he asked, “I know you need someone to talk too, it’s written on your face, so how about instead of wasting both of our time, you can just tell me what’s bothering you.”

Aloy looked at him, and he wore a decent smile, his eyes glinted with mere interest that she didn’t know if it were genuine or not. Turning back to the horizon, she said, “I was alone...in my dream...there were machines, but I tried looking for more Nora, except I couldn’t find any. All of the villages were empty, and then I went back to my...home...to the place I grew up to find him...Rost…but he was gone too.”

She never thought she’d bare her fears to Nil of all people, but he was right. She needed someone to talk too.

Nil leaned against the railing beside her, looking off at the horizon with her. “And what happened? You said the machines were after you.”

Aloy nodded. “They were, so many of them, of different make. Hunting me instead of the other way around, I tried to look for help, but I couldn’t find anyone and the machines were everywhere. And when I realized I was alone…”

He turned his head, “Don’t leave me in suspense.”

Breathing in deeply, her bottom lip trembled and she looked down, letting her hair hide her face from Nil’s, she didn’t want him to see the pain and fear on her face, the loss she felt so ingrained in her body.

“I was alone...and I gave up.”

“You?” he asked in surprise, “give up?”

“It was a dream,” she said, finding the annoyance and letting it rise to the surface, pushing down the pain in her chest. “What does it matter. That’s all it was, a dream, a nightmare.”

Nil smiled. “If it was just a nightmare, you wouldn’t be shaking and walking around, seeking comfort from something or someone to distract you.”

Aloy clenched her jaw, and curled her fingers to stop herself from shaking. “This was a waste of time.” she turned to leave, but Nil reached for her arm.

“I’m not making fun of you,” he whispered, dropping his hand, “I’m here, Aloy, I’m not going to undermine you just because you had a nightmare. We all go through loss and terror.”

She turned, looking at him. “What were you doing anyway?”

He raised his brows. “Changing the subject? Alright, I came back from finding a few men for some more men.”

Frowning, Aloy said, “You’re doing bounties now?”

Nil shrugged, looking off at the horizon again. “Anything to pass the time...you never know, bandits might show up again and take root somewhere in the world. I’m just waiting for it too happen.”

“Of course,” Aloy muttered, leaning against the railing.

They stood until Aloy noticed a hint of the sun rising in the distance. “I don’t want to give up,” she said, “I don’t want to be in a position where everyone I know dies, and that I’ll be surrounded by nothing. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Then make sure it doesn’t,” Nil says.

He made it seem so easy, but he was right again. She had to make sure it doesn’t happen, and with that resolved, even though she may have more nightmares in the future, she could stand with a friend to a rising sun, and fight for each day that comes.


End file.
